As the week wore on, I was grateful that we had
a guest speaker coming in this Sunday because
I came down with a virus earlier in the week
and I could tell the way it was headed where
it was going, where it usually does in my case,
into my bronchioles. And so last night when I
got the confirmed word at 830 that Warren's flight
had been canceled out of Chicago, I thought,
well, Lord, you know what you're doing. You're
in charge of throats as much as you are in charge
of snowstorms and so we're trusting you. I actually
feel rather comfortable doing this standing in
his place because as you may know I was his associate
for a couple of years back early in my ministry
and every time I preached I was there in place
of Warren Wiersbie and so this is a rather comfortable
position for me to be in this morning. And I
learned then that you don't fill his shoes, you
set them aside and grow into your own. I'm going
to ask you to open your Bible with me to Philippians
chapter 1. Obviously there wasn't a lot of time
to plow new ground for this morning. And so as
I thought about a text I wanted to use, I went
back to the well where I've been Drawing the
Water for the Last Few Weeks for My Own Soul
in Philippians chapter 1. I noted in reading
through this chapter that the word gospel occurs
over and over again. In fact, it's used six times
in chapter 1. It's interesting to me that it's
only used three times in the whole rest of the
book. In the first chapter, six times, the Apostle
Paul refers to the gospel, the good news. And
he defines it as the gospel of Christ toward
the end of the chapter. It is the gospel of Christ.
Verse 27, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel
of Christ, the good news about Christ. So that
gives us the content of the word gospel. He is
talking about the good news concerning Jesus
Christ, and the focus of that, of course, is
his death. for our sins, his burial, and then
his resurrection from the dead. That's the focus
of the gospel. Now, there's a whole lot more
that surrounds that, as you know and I know,
but that's the diamond in the center of the ring,
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
good news of what he has done for us, but it
also includes our necessary response to the gospel,
which is to believe it, to place our faith entirely
in the Savior, to trust in Him alone. And that
involves a turning from our sin, a repentance
on our part, as well as a belief, like two sides
to one coin. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It seems to me that in this chapter, The Apostle
Paul is telling us that the gospel of Christ
demands a radical reordering of our lives. The
gospel of Jesus Christ demands a radical reordering
of our lives. There are three phrases that caught
my attention as I noticed the word gospel. The
first one is found in verse 5 where he speaks
about the fellowship of the gospel. Philippians
1 verse 5, he says, for your fellowship in the
gospel from the first day until now. Paul says,
I thank God for that. For your fellowship in
the gospel. The word fellowship here means a
joint participation. It comes from our word for
fellowship as well. It means the Having something
in common interest, partnership is the way some
translations put it. It is a joint participation
in something that people share in together, the
fellowship of the gospel. When I see that word,
I'm reminded that sin is the great divider, that
sin is the great separator. Humanity is separated
because of sin from God, and from one another.
And we see that proof all around us. We see it,
for example, in the separation that is becoming
exaggerated again in the races, particularly
in America, where we thought we had racial equality
and where the work of a few leaders 20 years
ago put an end to racial prejudice and bias,
but we see that actually it didn't. It covered
it over for a while perhaps, but again we see
prejudice raising its ugly head in our society.
We see it with blacks and whites in particular.
The campus at Bethel College has recently undergone
the trauma of this sort of of bias by the threats
of a white supremacist former student who has
threatened a professor and his family on that
campus. And we see it in our newspapers week
upon week violence of one race against the other
and very often black against white or white against
black. Racial prejudice is with us and it's evidence
of sin. Because sin isolates. Sin pulls us apart
from one another. Our family has had the privilege
of befriending an international student. His
name is David. David attends Hamlin University.
A very intelligent, articulate young black man
from Zimbabwe in Africa. 19 years old, a jet
fighter pilot in the Zimbabwe Air Force, a man
who has traveled in many parts of the world,
speaks six different languages, 19 years old,
and studying in the United States, planning to
stay here to make this his home. He's got a brother
who lives in Boston, a sister who lives on the
East Coast, though his parents still live in
Zimbabwe. But David was the object of racial
threats a few weeks ago because he was dating
a white girl on the Hamlin campus, the bastion
of liberalism. But because he was dating a white
girl, he received a threat telling him as a black
man to stay in his place. You see, racial prejudice
and bias does not stop at certain political lines.
Racial prejudice and bias goes to the very heart
of the human being, which is sinful. That's its
origin. We see it too in rising anti -Semitism,
even in our own nation. Throughout the world
it is true and that is of course why so many
Jews are seeking to get out of Russia as fast
as possible. And one of the reasons that Israel
is so upset about the recent denial of loan guarantees
from the United States is they were using those
guarantees to build housing for Jews coming from
Russia. I know they were building the housing
where they were and that's the problem. But you
see, they're trying to get the Jews out of Russia
as quickly as possible because of the escalating
anti -Semitism in Russia. They don't know how
long the door will be open to get the Jews out
of there. I should say the former Soviet Union,
shouldn't they? Not Russia. But it's not just
Russia. We see it in our own country. We see
people going into graveyards and pushing over
tombstones. We see epithets and symbols painted
on walls of synagogues. Racial hatred. It is
the result of sin, sin which separates people
from people, as well as people from God. We see
the evidence of sin likewise in the division
of classes. This has not been true to a great
extent in the United States in the past, but
it seems to be coming more and more to the front,
the division of people based upon wealth, their
economic status, their class in our society.
And certain politicians are playing that theme.
And I think personally it's a very dangerous
theme to be played. There seems to be an emphasis
on the part of some unscrupulous people to further
divide the American public by playing upon racial
and social hatreds. The evidence of sin, because
sin is the source of separation. We see it in
the emphasis upon buying American -made automobiles.
And whether this be class or it be race, I don't
know. Because the point is a lot of automobiles
today are made in Asia. And there is a movement
to buy American. Of course, the only problem
is when you try to do that, it's very hard. Because
most of even what says made in America on it
has components from other parts of the world.
It's true. We do have a global economy. But the
kinds of divisions that we see arising in our
world today come out of sin. We see it in the
battle of the sexes. Once again, we get into
the election year and we see polls upon polls.
Men feel this way. Women feel this way. Certain
women's groups have their agenda, their political
agenda. Other groups have their agenda. Division.
Separation, isolation, and it comes about because
of sin. Now that's the marvelous thing about
the gospel, you see, because the gospel restores.
The gospel unites. The gospel of Jesus Christ
brings together what before had been separated.
The gospel of Jesus Christ destroys all the sin
-made walls that separate people. And why is
that? Because when we come to the cross of Jesus
Christ, we come to the great equalizer. The ground
is level at the cross. We come to the cross of
Jesus Christ and receive the Savior in the very
same way, no matter who we are or what our race
or economics or male or female. The gospel of
Jesus Christ destroys all the sin -made walls
that separate, all of the distinctions that cause
people to hate one another. Paul says, I thank
God for the fellowship of the gospel, that which
we have a joint participation in. It's interesting
to me that Paul, when he went to Philippi, began
evangelism with a group of women. who were meeting
for prayer beside a river. That's how the gospel
got started in Philippi. Women who were much
more less esteemed in that day than some people
think they are today. Looked down upon. And yet
that's where the gospel began. And Paul says,
I look back to the very beginning when God began
His work on you and I thank God for what He did
that very first day. when Lydia was saved and
some of those other women beside the riverbank,
that prayer meeting, and others of you who've
been saved. That jailer, remember him? Jailers
were not exactly the most popular people in the
world because of the kind of work they were in.
God saved a jailer, a despised class of people
in that day. You see how the gospel from the
very first day in Philippi began to break down
the barriers. and to level out people at the
cross. And therefore the cross demands a radical
reordering of our lives. The cross of Jesus Christ
is the only answer to those things that are separating
people from people and certainly people from
God. Dr. Raleigh Washington is the pastor of
the Rock of Our Salvation Evangelical Free Church.
I love that name. The Rock of Our Salvation Evangelical
Free Church in the inner city, black populated
area of Chicago. Just the west side of downtown.
I heard the choir from that church a few weeks
ago. Boy, it was exciting. They get up to this
area occasionally and if they ever do again,
I'd love to have them here at Grace Church. Now,
some of you would probably need a pacemaker or
something to make it through the concert. But
let me tell you, it's exciting music. I mean,
it moves. Raleigh Washington was preaching to
an audience that was quite mixed racially. He
began to refer to Dr. Martin Luther King, who
of course was the great crusader for racial equality,
and who was assassinated back in the 1960s. And
he commended Dr. King for some of the good things
that he did. And then he said, and I thought
it was very significant for him to say this as
a black leader in Chicago. He said there was
one thing that was missing from Dr. King's message.
And he said that one thing that was missing was
the most crucial part of anything he could have
said. And that one thing that was missing was
the cross of Jesus Christ. He had many good things
to say regarding people and relationships, but
he missed the heart of it. He missed the cross
of Jesus Christ, that which alone can truly bring
into fellowship people who are separated from
God and separated from one another. The root
of the gospel is the grace of God. Paul says
in the text that he, along with the Philippians,
were sharers in that grace. And he says earlier
in the chapter, grace to you. The grace of God
is the root of salvation. The fruit of salvation
is the peace of God. Grace and peace to you,
he says. Peace flows from the cross Where before
there is war and division and isolation and prejudice
and bias and hatred because of sin When the gospel
of Jesus Christ is preached and believed and
when the cross is established it ends all of
that and it brings peace and restoration and
oneness and wholeness where before There was
only deep enmity. The gospel of Jesus Christ
demands a radical reordering of our lives. If
before we came to the cross we were infected
by the kind of diseases we've talked about that
flow from sin, where there is division and hatred
and prejudice, We need to realize that there
is no room for any of that now this side of the
cross. It's over. And it can be over, and we
understand it. And it's not just that we're covering
it over, it's truly finished because we see other
people through the cross. The cross of Jesus
Christ demands a radical reordering of our lives.
As he speaks about the fellowship of the gospel,
the joint participation that we have in the gospel.
And whether we be black or yellow or white or
red or we be poor or rich or middle class or
male or female or whatever we be in any of the
divisions that we make at the cross of Jesus
Christ, we are brought into fellowship, the fellowship
of the gospel. I'd like you to look further down
into the text and notice with me in verse 12
the furtherance of the gospel. Here we come to
Paul's purpose in life. Verse 12 says, I want
you to know, brethren, that the things which
happened to me have actually turned out for the
furtherance of the gospel. See, what translation
are you using? I thought you would ask that eventually.
When I found out at 8 .30 last night I was preaching
today, the only Bible I had near me was the New
King James Version. And so I used that as I prepared
for this morning. How many of you carry the New
King James or some version of the King James,
be it the Schofield Study Bible or whatever?
Would you lift your hands? I want to get an idea.
Okay, thank you. Well, all of us have the right
Bible, of course. Now, how many of you use the
New American Standard, which I normally preach
from? Okay, keep them up just a second so I can
try to get an idea here. Alright, thank you.
How many of you use the NIV? Would you lift your
hands? Well, we are a divided church. I better
go back and preach that first point again, the
fellowship of the gospel. The NIV, by the way,
is outselling all other Bibles. The NASV, which
I preach from, which many of you have, is a Bible
that is sliding down the tubes apparently. Fewer
and fewer are buying it and whether it will be
published one day, who knows. But the NIV, 30
% or more of all Bibles sold are NIV Bibles.
That's one reason I have been preaching from
Philippians in the NIV and twice as many of us
have the NIV as any other translation, at least
in this congregation. But the new King James
calls it the furtherance of the Gospel. I needed
an F and that's why I enjoy the King James. The
fellowship of the gospel, now the furtherance
of the gospel. The furtherance of the gospel.
How does this happen, this furtherance of the
gospel? How does this advance happen? Well, let
me suggest to you it happens, first of all, through
ordinary people. Now, we might now call Paul
ordinary because he was a rather unusual person
in that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. Not
many of those around today. In fact, there weren't
many of them around then. None around today.
But Paul is not just talking about himself being
used to advance the gospel. He's talking about
others in Rome who were not in prison but who
were preaching the gospel now. They were emboldened
to do so because of his condition. And he is
commending the Philippians because of the fact
the gospel was being advanced through them. The
point I'm making is that the furtherance of the
gospel happens through ordinary people. Sometimes
we think it only happens through missionaries,
or through preachers, or through evangelists,
or people who are called to some particular kind
of ministry. No, no. The fact is that all of
us have a share in the advance of the gospel,
it being furthered. It happens through ordinary
people, and not only that, it happens through
ordinary methods. Now, when Paul started in Philippi,
there was an earthquake. I remember that, too.
He was in jail, singing at midnight, and the
prisoners were listening to him and Silas as
they sang their duets. And then it says there
was an earthquake that shook the place. and their
bonds were loosened and Paul and Silas were free.
Now, that would get somebody's attention. You
know, God doesn't use earthquakes very often.
Now, there are some people around today who think
that the gospel is authenticated through signs,
wonders, and miracles. and that if you don't
have those kinds of power encounters and power
shows, then people aren't going to believe the
gospel. I disagree with that. There are times
when God chooses to demonstrate his power in
some way, but those are exceptions and they are
rare. God advances his gospel through very ordinary
means like just talking. Twice Paul refers in
chapter 1 to his defense of the gospel. The word
means his oral defense. Paul was not going to
get before Nero, if he ever did, and as far as
we know he didn't. But at this point he didn't
know that and so he was planning his oral defense
before Caesar. He was not going to call down
fire from heaven. He was not going to throw a
cane down on the floor to become a snake before
Nero. It was simply an oral defense of the gospel,
just a very ordinary method. Using his brain
and his tongue, he was going to defend the gospel
of Jesus Christ before the most powerful man
in the world. And he commends the fact that there
are people in Rome who are speaking the gospel.
And he prays that even in his own circumstances
that Christ might be magnified in his body that
he would have boldness that Christ might be magnified.
And the word boldness there means freedom of
speech. So he wasn't talking about heroic deeds,
unusual signs and wonders which might accompany
him as an apostle and rightly so, but he was
talking about speech, just ordinary means. That's
how God advances the gospel through ordinary
people using ordinary means and in ordinary circumstances.
And in fact, Paul's circumstances were negative
in one sense. He was in prison. He was suffering,
as were the Philippians in a different way, but
very much suffering by persecution. And Paul
says, in all of these things, I am convinced
that God is advancing the gospel through ordinary
people using ordinary methods in ordinary circumstances.
Say, how can I be used to advance the gospel?
Right where you're going to be tomorrow, whatever
your ordinary routine day involves, you share
the gospel through your ordinary mouth. That's
how God works. Certainly, God can do the supernatural
and the spectacular. God can do that, but God
chooses rather, on the whole, in general, to
use the ordinary means. He could have sent angels
who undoubtedly would do it more brilliantly
than you or I, but God doesn't use angels to
advance the gospel. He uses ordinary people like
you and me in the routine of our lives, just
sharing Jesus Christ. That's the furtherance
of the gospel. That demands a radical reorienting
of our lives. To understand the why we're here
and the circumstances we're in are intended by
God for that purpose. Paul says in the text,
I am set or I am appointed for the defense, the
oral defense of the gospel. That is a clue to
his theology about what he was experiencing.
He is saying I am appointed here by God. I am
set here by God. I am not the victim of some
liars in Palestine who manipulated the system
so that I would be forced to be imprisoned and
here in Rome. He is saying I am set by God. I
am appointed by God in these circumstances so
that the gospel can be furthered. That demands
that you and I look at our lives differently
tomorrow, maybe even today. That the circumstances
we're facing are allowed by God so that the gospel
can be furthered. What a great purpose for life.
One mission. And then we conclude as we study
the gospel in chapter 1 of Philippians with verse
27 where it talks about the faith of the gospel.
What do you know? Another F. The faith of the
gospel, verse 27. Only let your conduct be worthy
of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come
and see you or am absent I may hear of your affairs
that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind
striving together for the faith of the gospel
The word faith here is used in the sense of the
body of belief that surrounds the gospel the
faith of the gospel And he says basically that
the gospel this body of truth that we call the
gospel has three works its first work is to connect
us to others in Christ you see that in Paul's
relationship to the Philippians he says whether
I'm absent or I'm with you that you may stand
fast the gospel connects us with other people
in Jesus Christ even connects us with people
of past generations One of the hymns we sometimes
sing talks of mystic sweet communion with those
whose race is one. I don't know about you, I've
never had too much mystic sweet communion with
the dead. I'm not sure what that song is supposed
to mean. But the fact is that there is a certain
oneness even with those who are with Christ.
That we're part of the same body. the same church.
The gospel connects us to others. Yesterday I
sat at a wedding. I don't too often get to do
that, just to sit and witness it, be a guest.
But I sat there at the wedding and I watched
the grandparents being ushered in. My heart was
touched as I watched them because I saw one generation
and then another generation and finally the bride,
a third generation come in. and all of them loving
Jesus Christ being a part of the same thing.
The gospel connected those generations. The gospel
connects us with our differences of age or whatever
the difference may be. It connects us with the
same purpose. We also see that the gospel commands
a worthy lifestyle. That's the second work of
the gospel. We say we believe the gospel, this
body of truth. We believe the faith that we're
told to keep. Paul says, if you believe it, then
live like it. Conduct yourselves worthily. The
word worthy means worth as much as. He's saying,
if you say you believe the gospel, then make
sure that your life is worth as much as the gospel
is worth. That's what he's saying. I haven't
always been a preacher. I know congregations
sometimes look at the preacher and they say,
he's always been a preacher. No, I haven't always
been a preacher. I grew up 18 years on the farm.
I was a farmer for 18 years. And then for several
years I was a college student, and while I was
a college student I was lots of things. One of
the things I did was to work for Beatrice Foods
in Topeka, Kansas, in a dairy plant. And among
a number of jobs that I had as a summer worker
in between college years, I helped to package
cottage cheese. Now, I hated cottage cheese,
but I had never tried it either, and I learned
to like it. during that summer. One of the jobs
I had was to package cottage cheese and the first
summer I was there in that dairy plant we did
it all by hand. I remember one weekend it was
around the 4th of July there was a sale on cottage
cheese and every vat in which we made cottage
cheese was used and it was all chopped up like
it was supposed to be and there were three of
us who are responsible for packaging hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of cottage
cheese. We put in an 18 -hour day standing there
packaging cottage cheese. Different size curds,
different carton size, 12 ounce, 16 ounce, 24
ounce, packaging cottage cheese. And I remember
about hour 12, we got a little punchy. You can
only package cottage cheese so long. before going
out of your mind. So for about six hours, three
insane people were packaging cottage cheese.
And I'm telling you, some of the cottage cheese
that went out of there about hour 15 or 16 had
to be returned. Because you see, the carton just
wasn't packaged right. It just wasn't packaged
right and people were not willing to buy it because
it wasn't worth it. the price they pay. Paul
says, if you say you believe the gospel, that
you possess the faith of the gospel, then let
your life be worth that. Or else don't profess
it. That's the implication. Conduct yourselves
in a manner that is worthy. of the faith that
you say you have. The gospel of Jesus Christ
demands a radical reordering of our lives. It
means that I can no longer see anyone apart from
the cross of Jesus Christ. It's changed my vision.
It's made me colorblind. It causes me to lose
sight of all of the sinful distinctions that
I may have made before. The gospel of Jesus Christ
means I can no longer see anyone apart from the
cross and through the cross. The gospel of Jesus
Christ means I can no longer understand my circumstances
apart from the cross. I can understand the snowstorm
yesterday. that prevented our guest speaker from
being here apart from the cross of Jesus Christ.
I still don't have a full answer on that, but
I dare not separate the cross from it, nor do
you. The loss of your job, the breakup of that
relationship, the illness of your loved one.
Whatever the circumstances of our lives, we cannot
separate those things from the cross of Jesus
Christ because God is at work in our circumstances
and what he is doing is advancing his purpose
in the world, his mission, the gospel. Thirdly,
it means I can no longer order my lifestyle apart
from the cross of Jesus Christ by whom the world
is crucified to me and I to the world. The gospel
of Jesus Christ demands a radical reordering
of my life and my lifestyle. I cannot live the
way I once lived. I cannot live for what I once
lived for. Everything comes to the cross, to
Jesus. And it's measured by that. So as we conclude
the service, let's ask the Lord How does my life
today need to be reordered in the light of the
gospel? Let's bow together. Obviously, I cannot
answer that question for you. Only you can answer
it. But what does the cross mean to your life?
to the way that you think about other people.
Even people who aren't nice. Even people who
may smell bad. Even people who don't do their
part of the bargain. People who are different
than you in the way they feel about things. How
does the cross need to be applied to your vision
of others? How does the cross need to be applied
in the way you see your circumstances, what you're
passing through? Can you honestly say, God, I
don't understand, but I give thanks, and I am
trusting you that you are advancing the gospel
through me as your child? How does the gospel
need to be applied to your lifestyle choices?
to the places you go and what you choose to see
and rent to see. The kinds of materials that
you read. The kinds of programs that you abide.
The cross of Jesus Christ and the gospel that
surrounds it demands a radical reordering. Let
it begin. Father, too often we have professed
the gospel simplistically and we have not seen
the cross and its radical demands upon our lives.
But we've been reminded Somewhat of that this
morning. And so wherein any of us need to reorder
our lives in obedience to the gospel, may we
do it today. Being yielded and surrendered to
the Lordship of Christ, saying, King of my life,
I crown thee now, thine shall the glory be. May
we do it and trust the power of the Holy Spirit.
to bring about the kinds of practical changes
that are necessary so that we may live as it
becomes the gospel of Jesus Christ.